VP McDonnell? A bad concept

For well over a year now, Bob McDonnell hasn't ruled out a run for vice president.

As recently as Wednesday, our governor was still playing the coy flirt. Asked on "CBS This Morning" about a possible nomination to the GOP ticket with Mitt Romney, McDonnell demurred, "That's up to the nominee. I'm perfectly happy being the governor of Virginia."

Depending on which poll or pundit you listen to, McDonnell's chances for a nomination range from excellent to a lousy bet.

Literally.

At the same time that the National Journal ranked McDonnell the No. 1 contender for the VP slot last month, for instance, the biggest bookmaker in Ireland, Paddy Power, gave him 10-to-1 odds at best.

The Irish aside, would McDonnell and Romney make good running mates?

Sure they would — in Don Draper's universe.

The two men have much in common, besides a well-preserved, well-groomed, millionaire dreamboat quality. Sort of like Ken might look if he were alive today and weren't, you know, a plastic doll.

But they also have two very real problems.

The second biggest problem with a Romney-McDonnell ticket is that it's McDonnell who'd make the better president.

I mean, McDonnell may have serious neo-con issues, but at least nobody ever called him an Etch A Sketch. With Bob, you know going in you're getting a serious neo-con.

No, the biggest problem with the pair — and this is rather insurmountable — is their shared vision.

And that vision alienates women, blacks, Hispanics, gays, political independents and … well, election wonks say that's pretty much all it takes to throw the General Election to Barack Obama. Even with Joe Biden on the ticket.

A lot can change between now and November, but for now Romney lags Obama among women, minorities and independents, which makes McDonnell more of an anchor than an asset.

Polls show Obama with a 19-point lead among women, and a 48 percent to 39 percent lead among independents in key swing states, including Virginia.

Even if we could ignore McDonnell's infamous 1989 graduate thesis on the GOP vision for the family, which essentially argues that the state should dictate who to love, when to have sex, when to abstain, whether to use birth control, when to abort (never), and punish those who disobey, there's still his more relevant record as governor.

And as governor, he just signed into law hotly contested measures that will, among other things, force women to undergo useless and expensive ultrasounds before an abortion, allow adoption agencies that receive public funds to discriminate against potential adoptive parents based on "moral" or "ethical" issues, and place restrictions on who can vote.

Observers say our last General Assembly session was as rancorous and nasty as they've ever seen. Does McDonnell acknowledge his role in a divided Virginia?

No. Last month on "Meet the Press," he shrugged off the impact of that ultrasound law, which launched protests at the Capitol, petitions and a new task force to get more women elected to office.

"Listen," McDonnell said, "that was one bill out of a thousand that we passed."

Besides, he said, he only supported "the concept of an ultrasound." (Like he supports "the concept" ofwomen's healthcare?)

He blamed Democrats for making a big deal out of social issues. Apparently the man doesn't recognize that things like reproductive rights, adoption and voting are big deals to people.

Now McDonnell is joining Romney in a new campaign tack: revisionism.

On Wednesday, McDonnell blamed Obama for "dividing the country," for pitting rich against poor, men against women, while Romney claimed Obama is waging the real "war against women" because so many women lost their jobs in the recession.

Two men sharing the same brain make for a lopsided presidential ticket.